I have been a member of several small faith communities since 1994. A small faith community is a group of a dozen or so people who see each other at church weekly and also gather in conversation and sometimes in good works outside of the weekend services, usually monthly, to share their lives and their faith. Nothing less or more than that. In my small group we have been together through the sickness and death of loved ones, the birth of children, the struggle of infertility, a summer vacation, the raising of children, miscarriage, holiday dinners, surgery, moving to a new home, losing a job, finding a new one, divorce, the weddings of each other’s children, significant birthdays, and also many many mundane concerns and joys.
When Jesus revealed his true self on that mountaintop in today’s gospel, he just happened to be with a small group of friends. This was no coincidence. First of all, he was with those friends regularly, so there were many opportunities when revelation and friend-presence could coincide. Second, this was a group that had shared a significant amount to time together already. They knew and honored each other’s stories, so they were unselfconscious with one another. Third, discussions around faith, hope, love, eternal life and God were permissible in this group. Not only permissible, but expected. So when God’s love was made visible in the human face of Jesus, his friends recognized what they saw.
That is the stuff of our small faith group. Nothing less. My group sees each other often; we share and honor each other’s stories. Discussions about faith, hope, love, eternal life, and God are not just permissible but expected. And when we see God’s love made visible in one another’s humanity, we recognize it for what it is.
Namaste! Amen!
The Readings
Hebrews 11:1-7
Psalm 145
Mark 9:2-13
2 Jesus took with him Peter and James and John, and led them up a high mountain apart, by themselves. And he was transfigured before them, 3and his clothes became dazzling white, such as no one on earth could bleach them. 4And there appeared to them Elijah with Moses, who were talking with Jesus. 5Then Peter said to Jesus, ‘Rabbi, it is good for us to be here; let us make three dwellings, one for you, one for Moses, and one for Elijah.’ 6He did not know what to say, for they were terrified. 7Then a cloud overshadowed them, and from the cloud there came a voice, ‘This is my Son, the Beloved; listen to him!’ 8Suddenly when they looked around, they saw no one with them any more, but only Jesus.
9 As they were coming down the mountain, he ordered them to tell no one about what they had seen, until after the Son of Man had risen from the dead. 10So they kept the matter to themselves, questioning what this rising from the dead could mean. 11Then they asked him, ‘Why do the scribes say that Elijah must come first?’ 12He said to them, ‘Elijah is indeed coming first to restore all things. How then is it written about the Son of Man, that he is to go through many sufferings and be treated with contempt? 13But I tell you that Elijah has come, and they did to him whatever they pleased, as it is written about him.’
The reading is from the website below.
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